Cai Griffiths – The former professional rugby player coaching in the eighth tier

In an era where traditional powerhouses of Welsh rugby are struggling to cope amid financial turmoil, the story of London Welsh’s recovery from liquidation is heartening.

Welsh’s Director of Rugby is now former Ospreys prop Cai
Griffiths, who went from top-flight rugby in Swansea to the ninth tier of the
English game within a year.

Though he was used to the dizzy heights of European rugby
and crunch derby games at the Liberty Stadium, it wasn’t all change for
Griffiths, having spent a season at Welsh in 2013-14.

Griffiths’ time at the club in his first spell couldn’t have
been more successful. Against the odds, Welsh won promotion back to the
Premiership, toppling Bristol’s wealth and stars along the way.

“My favourite year of rugby was with London Welsh when we were in the Championship”, Griffiths says. “There were some really good guys. Deep down I wanted to stay but the offer wasn’t there.”

Griffiths during his first spell at London Welsh

Griffiths’ admission that he wasn’t offered a suitable contract to stay at Welsh is a startling one, especially given the fact that 25 players joined in the summer that he left. The decision to bring in so many new recruits ended predictably badly, as Welsh’s relegation from the Premiership was confirmed by March, picking up only one point along the way.

At the time, Griffiths was sceptical of the recruitment: “The coach at the time must have missed a trick because we were so tight as a unit. With so many players coming in it takes time to gel as a team. Given how high octane the Premiership is, you don’t have time – going into the Premiership trying to build a team is one year too late.

“I truly believe that we would’ve survived
that year if we hadn’t brought in so many stars. The team we had didn’t have
any superstars. It was just a team that was willing to dog it out for each
other.”

As we speak, the shiny reflection of a framed
Barbarians jersey protrudes from behind Griffiths. It’s the match-worn shirt of
John Dawes, captain of the Baa-Baas side who famously beat New Zealand in
Cardiff in 1973.

Dawes was one of many famed Wales stars to
pull on the red of London Welsh during the amateur era. Before professionalism,
Old Deer Park was the home away from home for many Welshmen, including Mervyn
Davies, JPR Williams and Gerald Davies. The move to Oxford to suit Premiership
regulations in 2012 is seen by many as the start of the decline.

Where before Welsh had two playing sectors –
professional and amateur – now only one exists, as they can’t afford to pay
players having been financially ravaged by the business decisions made in their
Premiership days.

Thus, Griffiths, as Welsh’s Director of
Rugby, is responsible for rebuilding the values which made Welsh so prosperous
in the amateur days: hard work, skill, unity.

Griffiths re-joined Welsh after their leader at the time, Sonny Parker, called upon his former team-mate to become a player-coach.

Griffiths celebrates a Welsh try

He was a coach in training that year, the former Ospreys
prop having made the decision to switch from top-flight rugby in Swansea to
Bury St. Edmonds, a side playing in National 2.

Now, over a year since joining Welsh, Griffiths’ side went
14 months unbeaten, only relinquishing their record in late October, having
begun their progression up the leagues with promotion last season.

“It doesn’t
matter what level you are, [going a year unbeaten] is a huge achievement for
this group of players, to maintain those standards in some of the places that
we play is very resilient.”

Though New Zealander Parker has now left to
return to his homeland, Welsh’s development has continued, and they currently
lie top of London 3 North West, but as Griffiths admits, coping with the loss
of Parker wasn’t easy.

“It was pretty hard. When he returned to New Zealand I
lost not only a friend, but a mentor as well. It was hard when I got that phone
call, but I understand why he went back.

“You have to move on, and I’ve been lucky to have Tom [May] come on board. They’re two different types of coaches, but Sonny was a huge part of this club. He’d been here for years – he was a pro, went through liquidation and he was looking after the players when we started off here.”

Fellow former player Tom May has joined Griffiths on Welsh’s coaching team

Moving from top-flight rugby to the ninth tier is a
curious move, especially as the majority of former players kickstart their
coaching career in the professional game, but Griffiths doesn’t see it that way.
“You go to that level and you understand that it’s not just your experience.
Experience goes a fair way, but it’s an actual understanding of how to coach,
how to give that skill to a certain player.

“I’m quite happy with where I am at the moment. I’m
really enjoying it here. I’m enjoying my rugby for the first time in four, five
years, and I’m loving being out there with the boys.”

Through professionalism and liquidation, there’s a genuine
sense that Welsh lost their identity. For a club which can boast of so many
former British and Irish Lions to be languishing in the lower divisions
demonstrates something going severely wrong. When Griffiths came in, a key part
of his philosophy was to restore the Welsh pride. After being prompted for the
reasoning behind his move to Welsh, Griffiths looks pensive.

After a long pause, he says: “It’s a special place. It’s not like any other rugby club. You can go upstairs and see the Lions shirts – at one point this was the greatest rugby club in the World. It’s quite deep, and being a Welsh guy living in London, [the opportunity] to coach London Welsh is a very special thing for me.”

With Welsh making such good progress in their bid to achieve
four promotions in five years (if successful, this would end with the club in
tier five by 2022), it raises the question of whether they could end up back in
the professional divisions, but there is the potential risk of further
liquidation.

“There could
be a point where we keep progressing up the divisions and have a decision to
make about paying players. If it was up to me, we’d have to look at it.

“If that
means we go to a league, decide not to pay players and we’re in that mid-table,
it’s all about the future of the club. That’s the situation. We’re never, ever
again putting this club where it was a couple of years ago. Never again.”

Aims

On this blog, I’m attempting to build a portfolio of published work to aid any possible future foray into journalism, as well as combining writing with school work. I’d be delighted for any feedback on my writing, but I would ask if you could not be too vitriolic with any criticism of an opinion I hold!